From Vallejo, in Solano County, to Antioch, in Contra Costa County, the cities each offer a bit of history that helped to shape the state and country. They all share common denominators as well. Each is a "waterfront" community, on the Carquinez Strait, and certainly worth a visit or two.
Published: April, 2000
From Vallejo, in Solano County, to Antioch, in Contra Costa County, the cities each offer a bit of history that helped to shape the state and country. They all share common denominators as well. Each is a "waterfront" community, on the Carquinez Strait, and certainly worth a visit or two.
Vallejo
One of the larger cities in Solano County with a population of nearly 113,00 residents, Vallejo is a mix of small older homes, built to house military families, and new and newer homes as the area becomes more suburban. It is known as the home of the Six Flags Marine World theme park. In recent years, ferries have again begun transporting residents to work and play in San Francisco and home again, and visitors across the bay to see the sights.
The military has played a significant role in Vallejo’s history. David Farragut was the first commandant of Mare Island, purchased by the U. S. Government in 1852. He is well-remembered for urging on his crew at the battle of Mobile Bay with the now infamous words, "Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead." The Navy opened the Mare Island Shipyard in 1853, where it built and repaired ships. Nearly 50,000 workers were employed there during World War II, and about one-fifth still worked there into the 1980s.
Following changes in the world situation, the Navy no longer needed the shipyard and the Mare Island property was turned over to Vallejo in 1999. A major undertaking is occurring to turn the facility into an industrial and business park complex.
While the military had been there, Vallejo’s downtown was developed with hotels, office buildings, retail businesses, as well as nicely landscaped parks. Its proximity to the water made it a natural choice for a ferry dock.
Pittsburg
Laid out in late 1849 as the New York of the Pacific, Pittsburg has also been known as Black Diamond, a synonym for coal, referring to the nearby coal mines.
Thirty years later, the mines were closing, but the fishing industry prospered under Italian immigrants. By the 1880s, there were four canneries in Black Diamond.
Other industry came too, including a manufacturing company, a rubber company, an electric generating plant. In 1910, the Columbia-Geneva Steel Company started a small operation, and ultimately became part of United States Steel. Today, U.S. Steel-Posco and Dow Chemical are the two prime industries in Pittsburg.
Camp Stoneman was built during World War II to be used as a staging area for troops headed for the Pacific. It was a boon for the area. The camp was dismantled after the Korean War and the area experienced a decline. The extension of Highway 4 into Eastern Contra Costa County brought new residents willing to drive to new office complexes in Central Contra Costa.
Pittsburg’s downtown received a critical hit when the freeway came as it bypassed downtown. It has undergone a major revitalization in recent years through redevelopment. The marina has been expanded and upgraded and townhouses have been built nearby.
Pittsburg incorporates a fair mix of the old and new, with most of the new being erected south of the freeway. New shopping centers are nearby.
The annual Seafood Festival attracts thousands of visitors.
Benicia
A mecca for artists, Benicia attracts visitors and buyers to the works created by paintbrush, pottery wheel or to the acclaimed glass studios, as well as wordsmiths (Jack London visited often) and arts-related businesses. The performing arts also enjoy a prominence here.
Today a community of approximately 28,000 residents, where one can stroll down to the waterfront on the well-lit main street, Benicia was named after Dona Benicia Vallejo, wife of the Spanish commandant of California. Built on hills, many homes offer spectacular bay views. Benicia was the state capitol between 1853 and 1854. The capitol building still stands. Benicia is also the site of an early state arsenal that was opened in 1852 and closed in 1964 and was subsequently deeded to the city. Many of the original buildings are still there, including the commandant’s residence, officers’ quarters and camel barns. Camel barns in Benicia? An experiment to carry Army troops on camel throughout California was not a spectacular success, and the animals were sold at auction after a few years.
In the late 1870s, Southern Pacific Railroad’s transcontinental trains stopped at the depot in Benicia and were ferried across the Carquinez Strait on what were then the largest ferries in the world. Southern Pacific, in 1929, built a bridge over the strait, bringing an end to the train ferries. Car ferries continued until the 1960s, but ferry service ended with the completion of the Benicia-Martinez Bridge in 1962.
Martinez
County seat of Contra Costa County since 1851, Martinez is also known as the bocce capital of the United States, and birthplace to Joe DiMaggio.
Martinez’ development began with ferries carrying prospectors between Martinez and Benicia en route to the Gold Country in the late 1840s. Due to the lucrative grain trade between California’s Central Valley and Europe, Martinez would become a major shipping port, and by the 1880s, a foremost commercial fishing center. It also became a key agricultural center at time, which lasted until the 1940s.
Martinez became a manufacturing center in the 1890s, and in the early 1900s, several new business were established that have continued to play a part in the city’s economic future and prominence. Alhambra Water Company started bottling its pure water here in 1903, followed by two years later by Mountain Copper Company, which smelted copper ore. Associated Oil began refining oil three miles east of town in 1913 (today Tosco-Avon), and Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company set up a refinery here in 1914, today the Martinez Refining Company, a division of Equilon.
Nearly two dozen collectible and antique shops attract visitors to the downtown area on a daily basis. A few blocks away a new intermodal facility, to be completed in Fall 2000, will include a new Amtrack station and serve as a connecting point for buses from throughout the region.
Able to boast of more than 14 parks scattered throughout the city, Martinez also has a marina that attracts anglers and boaters. The marina is to be refurbished in the next few years.
Adjacent to the marina are waterfront parks, one owned by the city, which includes the bocce courts and baseball field, and the larger Martinez Regional Shoreline Park, part of the East Bay Regional Park System, which offers trails for hikers, runners and bicyclists, birdwatching and picnicking sites.
Also in downtown is the Martinez Museum, where a historic collection of artifacts, memorabilia and historic documents from the city and county can be viewed.
Antioch
Built at the junction of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, which branch off into miles and miles of Delta waterways, for swimming, boating, water skiing and fishing, Antioch is the oldest city in Contra Costa County.
Thousands of new homes have been built in recent years in this still affordable community. Millions of dollars have been spent to improve Antioch’s downtown, including such amenities as brick crosswalks and decorative street lights.
Site of the Rivertown Jamboree and Contra Costa County Fair, annual events that attracts thousands each year, and has been considered as the new home for the Renaissance Pleasure Fair, which had to move from Marin County.
Successful enterprises are in Antioch’s long history. Sheep raising was Antioch’s principle industry for many years. And in the mid-1850s, there was a local lumber company, grain warehouses, two hotels, a farm equipment company, several blacksmiths, a variety store, shoemaker, Chinese laundry, pottery, distillery, copper smelter and several merchandise stores.
The Fulton Shipyards completed 27 vessels for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Other well known company names in Antioch are Fiberboard Products Company and Crown Zellerbach moved to Antioch. Pacific Gas and Electric Company has a generating plant there.
Antioch’s population is about 50,000 residents. Their clean community, whether in the old town or the newer area, has a golf course, marina and rollerskating rink, as well as 26 parks and 18 playgrounds.
Richmond
By the time Richmond was incorporated in 1905, two major industries had located there. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company situated its western terminus along the bay shore, and Standard Oil Company centered its western United States operations there.
Among the five national historic sites in Richmond is Point Richmond, the city’s first neighborhood, created by the refinery workers. Considered a choice location today, the Victorian homes, step up the hillside, while the quaint shopping area is in the flat land. Some of the West County’s better known restaurants are located in the Point. Nearby is the historic Richmond Plunge.
Another historic site is the Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant, built in 1930, which was designed to accept parts and distribute assembled autos, and was the largest assembly plant to be built on the West Coast. In 1955 the last car rolled off the line and the plant was closed. Parts of the plant were later used for offices. The city acquired the property in 1979 and planned to turn the plant into a complex of offices, research and development space. Empty since the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 severely damaged the plant, the city has plans to redevelop the site.
Richmond’s population swelled during World War II to about 80,00 people, many of whom came to work in the Kaiser Shipyards. Today, there are about 92,000 residents in the city which offers 11 community centers that provide opportunities for exploring the arts, continuing education, cultural events, health and fitness, among others. There are also city parks and regional parks in and around Richmond that offer outdoor recreational activities.
Richmond officials and staff work hard to attract new businesses and to assure them that long-term plans involving site location, relocations, real estate and capital investments can be safely made.
Last year, ferries began transporting commuters to work in San Francisco and back, and tourists enjoy the ride on weekends as well.
Rodeo
Just across the water from Vallejo and Benicia the unincorporated community of Rodeo was for thousands of years home to the Ohlone Indians. The arrival of Spanish explorers and the land grants of the 1800s transformed the quiet Indian enclave into a bustling center of ranching, meatpacking, lumberyards and shipping.
Rodeo was founded in 1890 when the Union Stock Yard Company was established to can and pack meat. By the end of the 1800s, meat packing gave way to the petroleum and refining industry. In 1895, Union Oil Company purchased land and a wharf from the Humbolt Lumber Company. Crude oil was installed in 1896. Tosco’s San Francisco Area Refinery operates there today.
A small community of over 11,000 residents, Rodeo’s heart is its historic downtown, built down to the waterfront, to which ferry boats used to transport commuters from across the bay, and bring fishermen for the world-renowned striped bass fishing.
Rodeo today is a centrally located community with a friendly small-town atmosphere. Its residents are a mix of professionals, technicians, blue-collar workers and retirees, all fiercely proud of their community’s heritage. Fishing is still a favorite recreation and other pastimes include hiking, wind surfing and baseball. Housing is less expensive than in other Bay Area locales.
There are many infill opportunities for businesses and small offices along Parker and San Pablo Avenues, Rodeo’s main streets, where homes, parks, businesses and the marina are intertwined.
